Humpty Dumpty
by Captain Combat Beard
Summary: Sonic could only give a somber, forlorn stare toward the immense odds stacked up against him, taking the form of a plummeting island with parts being amputated off by high amounts of explosives set afire. "Welcome to Hell," Sonic said to himself, before charging headlong into the fray. AU, written for Kelviniana forum's writing contest.


The trooper smiled, having beaten the scourge once more. The perfectly round, eggshaped genius machinist in the red coat, black pants, and reflective blue eyeglasses. A hankerchief stuck out from his jacket pocket.

"It's over, Robotnik." The blue hedgehog said, as the scientist rose from the destroyed machine in his flying contraption. "Your last card's been played. We have the Sol Emeralds, and the Master Emerald!"

"And," The aged Ivo Robotnik grunted. "What of it?"

The eighteen year old blue hedgehog smiled. "It's more entertaining for me to have you know you'll be dropped into the capital city defenseless so you can get arrested without anything you can do."

"My hero!" The girl behind him cried out. "Sonic!"

Sonic rolled his eyes, turning to the woman fawning over him from afar. She was a pink hedgehog with blue eyes, fifteen years old, wearing a light pink dress, and an endearing smile. One that he once felt annoyed by. For she was a princess, mad about the boy, and to him, a luxurious and extravagant ball and chain, wanting to wrap around his leg and imprison him to a life of political drama and responsibility. But as the days passed, the more Sonic saw her smile, the more he felt a sense of pity. Pitying how she fell so deep in the hole he took strides to avoid, and was trying to drag him in with her. He felt sorry that he will end up kicking her away, one day. Her name was Amy Rose.

"You tell him what for, Sonic!" A young, budding boy's voice cheered.

Sonic looked over to his left to see the boy close by. He was a yellow, two tailed fox. Eleven years old, and as brilliant as the mad scientist Robotnik in his sixties, donning an engineer's cap fitted tightly around his head, and with a determined expression. Sonic knew the boy well, the boy's determination was true, but his faults lie where his ability to get out there and do things on his own. He let others decide for him what he does, where he goes, and how he does it. Sonic knows its hard to teach a person how to be free, but he has come a long way. When he first found him, he was an orphan, called a mutant for his two tails, and always had something putting him down. Now, maybe five years later, while he may not be on top of the world, people respect him, and he was always on top of the situation. And for being his teacher, Sonic was proud. His name was Miles Prower, but Sonic had coined him a nickname; Tails.

"Get any closer to my Emerald, and I will scrap that thing you call a machine." A third, strong voice growled at the round man.

And now, Sonic turned to his right, and looked up the altar of stone. There, atop the altar, was a red echidna, and a massive, rectangular emerald of the same color. The emerald, large and powerful, was the conduit of all the Sol Emeralds, and a powerful entity on its own. When it shatters, as it did twice, the pieces fly across the globe, landing anywhere the sun shines. Two entities live inside the large jewel; the spirit of an echidna girl, named Tikal, and the God of Destruction; Iblis. This massive gemstone was known as the Master Emerald.

The echidna that stood upon the Master Emerald was its guardian. At nineteen years old, he is the last of his kind. He was red, bearing a star-shaped white mark on his chest, and a hat with a band donning star shaped buckles. His gloved hands had spikes erupting from the back of them. His purple eyes and stern face had a solid defensive aura about it, earned from nearly two decades of guarding the mystical Master Emerald. He was job was a guardian was not flawless, for more than once this doctor had tricked him into working alongside him. His lack of social skill, as a result of his life alone on the island without anyone else to offer him company, had been the roots for this folly, and he has made much progress since then as well. He has learned who to trust, and how much he should trust each person. To Sonic's merriment, he had been the main cause of that development as well. His name was Knuckles.

Sonic turned to Ivo, looking around him while raising his hands to a shrug, before sending a look at the Robotnik. Ivo wasn't phased by this expression, so the hero flashed a grin. It was as cocky as always was.

"Doc, you haven't changed a bit. But us, we've all gotten better. We're _beyond_ you. Whatever tricks you have up your sleeve _just won't work,_ pal."

Robotnik looked down at his adversaries from his mobile seat. He cast them all disgusted looks, before forging a smirk as his eyes laid upon the Master Emerald altar.

He reached below his seat, and withdrew a bottle of champagne. Ivo took off the cork, and withdrew the handkerchief from his pocket. Stuffing it down the bottle with a bit on the outside, he put the cork back on. He then pulled out a crude friction match, and struck it against its box.

Lighting the scrap of cloth on fire, he steered the machine to his left a bit. With the molotov cocktail in hand, he stood up to get a good look on the ground below. He smiled as he saw his target, and dropped the bottle.

Sonic watched as the doctor seemingly did absolutely nothing of importance, until the bottle hit the ground. Or rather, until it went below it.

The bottle crashed against the metal floor of a small tube in the ground through a subtle hole in the floor. The alcohol burned and spread down the pipe, the flames igniting the gunpowder before the drink itself washed it out.

"While you were getting here, I took the liberty of ensuring my victory, with backup plan to eliminate you. I had personally opened a hole in the shrine, and filled it with nitroglycerin." Doctor Ivo Robotnik gladly enlightened the heroes of his actions.

A quick jolt of shock spread across their faces.

"Robotnik, you are crazy!" Amy shouted. "If you destroy the altar, the island will fall!"

"Precisely, but you're missing the point. It's not just the altar, either; as a matter of fact, I have points on the island where I've dug downward and placed enough explosive material to blow portions of the island away, in case the alter could not be blown. And the fuse to it all has been lit. I originally had something else planned, but there was _a change of plans..._"

At that point, Ivo's hand slowly rose to his face. The fingers lightly put themselves on the top and bottom of the blue, reflective glass.

And then, he took off his glasses.

Now showing their true colors, Ivo's eyes said many things a mouth cannot. His black and red eyes full of scorn, hate, and spite shot at Sonic, striking him with such intimidation, it outrivaled the entire prowess of any machine the madman has ever created.

"_No one calls me "Humpty Dumpty"._"

And then, the scourge of Soleanna took his leave.

Sonic, realizing the altar was about to explode right next to him and his best friends, suddenly sprung into action. Attacking Robotnik would not stop the explosion, so he had to go after him later.

Instead of giving chase he turned around, and sprinted at Tails. The hedgehog tackled him, grabbing him with his left hand, keeping him in his arm as he ran on.

The explosion came swiftly. Rocks flew outward, slamming the two brothers to the ground, sending the Master Emerald and its guardian skyward. Smoke clouded the entire clearing, obscuring view past a small distance ahead of them. It became hard to breathe, and they could only think of one thing: escape.

Sonic got up first, with nothing that even resembled a stable balance. After two seconds of standing up, he fell onto one knee, and rested for a moment. His two tailed friend got onto his hands and feet, shaking his head to try to sort things out. Not three seconds later did Sonic snatch Tails' arm.

"Come on!" He said with urgency, running ahead. "We have to get to the ze-"

What may as well have been a meteorite slammed into the ground ahead of them, pushing all the dust out of its way and into the faces of the blue and yellow animals. When the dust was out of their eyes, they saw Knuckles on the illustrious red emerald.

"Phew!" The echidna sighed. "I was so sure I'd have to put this back together."

Sonic began moving around the emerald. "Fantastic, but we have to get to the zeppelin! This island is starting to fall!"

As soon as he said that, the smoke slowly began to rise as the island fell downward. The trio quickly made off toward the jungles, set ablaze by the explosion. The other explosions would inevitably start more, so they wasted no time making their way to their zeppelin.

But at the altar, a certain someone regained consciousness.

"_... Sonic...?_"

…

The trio rushed through the forest with ease, as they've all been through this island many times now. They've all adapted to the vine swings, the massive hollowed out trees, and the oh so familiar traits of Angel Island. They all quickly managed to make it to the beach, where the Tornado airship was pinned to the ground. Sonic quickly plucked up the stakes holding the blimp down by ropes, dragging them behind him as he went. Tails began setting the controls to leave, and Knuckles set the large emerald down, sitting on it.

As it was about to lift from the ground, Sonic came by with the ropes, winding them up and throwing them inside. He walked on, wanting to get comfortable, sitting down on Master Emerald alongside Knuckles. As he sat, he felt warm, and relaxed. Invigorated, yet calmed. This ardor was not unfamiliar. Although it wasn't many, every time Sonic had touched the Master Emerald, he felt it passively giving him energy. He never tried to actively use its power, though. He only had the chance to touch it a stark few times, and when he did, Ivo was already defeated. Only now was he close to it while it was being contested over, and even then it was Knuckles who was on top of it. He was not even on the altar, he was on the ground with Tails and-

"Wait." Sonic said, breaking from his relaxed state. His face was stricken with a tense, plain expression, but one could sense all the panic and agitation behind it as he looked to the ground, getting further and further away.

"What's wrong?" Knuckles said.

Sonic's expression exploded. "We forgot Amy!"

Tails was troubled. "I was going to say that Amy wasn't following us halfway on our way here, but I didn't want you to stop and go ba-"

An explosion's loud rumbling cut him short on his sentence, as the three of them turned to look. The small portion of the island they just took off from had became disconnected from the island.

"DAMMIT TAILS!" Sonic shouted, standing up, the hot power from the Master Emerald flowing through him as he began a spindash.

With quite some revving up, he launched outward, clearing the gap between the zeppelin and the main island. As he launched, he spurted some fire from beneath himself. Tails quickly noticed, but before he could scream about how dramatically flammable the airship was, Knuckles shifted the Master Emerald over the flames, snuffing it out.

As Sonic landed onto Angel Island, set ablaze by explosives, he stopped for just a moment to stare into the land ahead of him. Fiery forests was not something Sonic had adapted to with all his years of adventuring. The smoke can clutter his lungs, and the trees can fall, altering routes in the process of being taken. Not to mention he just jumped from his one surefire way out, and it is now far behind him and not nearly as fast as he is. The chance of rendezvous with it was slim. Once he secured the princess, what would he do then? Did Eggman have any more robots that he had hidden away in the island to ensure his safety?

Sonic could only give a somber, forlorn stare toward the immense odds stacked up against him, taking the form of a plummeting island with parts being amputated off by high amounts of explosives set afire.

But nothing would stand between him and what he wanted to do. No man, no machine, no sky, no sea.

"Welcome to Hell," Sonic said to himself, before charging headlong into the fray.

Sonic ripped into full speed and began tearing through the flaming jungle. His suspicions were right, robots had been sent after him. The steam powered machines came flying from behind the flames and smoke, and just as quickly had they came into sight did they fall. Sonic had grown so accustomed to fighting Robotnik's machines, he was shredding through them as if they weren't even there. The urgency of the situation wasn't helping the robots survive, either.

Another rumbling shook the island as Sonic ran into the clearing of the Master Emerald's altar. Amy was there, hammer withdrawn, slapping away the cold hard hands of another of Ivo's controlled machines. It was lightweight, and judging by how there was a cage in the center, it seemed it was built for the sole purpose of kidnapping. As Sonic arrived on the scene, Robotnik's eyes widened.

"You," The mad doctor growled. "..._rrrRRRAPTIOUS RRRRRAPSCALION!_"

Amy turned around at the doctor's first word. "Sonic, you came back!"

Knowing he was outmatched, Ivo ejected from the mechanical body. He launched himself into the crater where the altar was, deploying the rotor blades on his way down.

Sonic smiled back at Amy, but couldn't waste time. He began running at her, and he swooped her off her feet. Throwing her over her shoulder, the princess swooning all throughout, Sonic jumped down into the hole below after Robotnik.

The crater formed into a cave. Water was being pumped into the hole from deeper within, possibly to deter Sonic from going into it. Such a thing didn't bother him, though. Sonic sprinted through, hoping over small gaps dropping into a small rut where the water gathered, ran up the wall, along the ceiling, and swooped down the wall and through the door. Following Robotnik down the cave, Sonic jumped down a large hole after him.

The cave dwelling rabbits scattered as Sonic and Amy began plummeting to the ground. Sonic was a bit surprised with falling down a rabbit hole, but the chase had to go on. Sonic looked around, to be surprised a facility of some sort existed down here. He didn't notice Robotnik anywhere, but then he realized he wasn't quite on ground floor. He looked down, and there he was, riding into a building on the bottom of the cave. Without a second thought, Sonic jumped down after him.

It was then Sonic realized he had shaken the hive.

Hundreds of flying robots, perhaps a thousand. All of them came from the side. Sonic was amazed by the sight, as he was for once unable to see anything past the incoming wall of machines.

As soon as he hit the floor, Sonic high tailed it for the door, and made it just in time to see Ivo, grasping a lantern slide down a tube in his mobile. Sonic followed suit before he believed the machines would bring down the entire building upon him and Amy, spinballing down the tube.

As they went down, the light faded. The tunnel was pitch black. The only other light source was Ivo's lantern, beyond a corner. The pipe was large enough for Sonic to stand, so he ran onto his feet after the scientist, whiffing through the air as he made his dash.

The dull tan glow of Ivo's lantern highlighted his sickened snarl as he looked over his shoulder. Reaching underneath him once more, Ivo retrieved a flare gun as another light came into sight; one marking the next motherload of explosives. He popped down his goggles, and took aim into a hole that will immediately trigger the explosive. Robotnik fired the flaregun, with swell accuracy.

Before the explosion went off, Sonic went into another roll. Amy was finding her being carried by Sonic breathtaking in ways she didn't like. An over-encumbering cascade of noise and shockwaves rattled them, and the next part of the island was severed off. Robotnik flew out of the now disconnected and misaligned tube, using his rotors to navigate into the other end.

Sonic could not control his trajectory as well. Before being launched from the tunnel, Sonic saw a huge surge of water start flowing down between the cracks. He was going to be headed right into a waterfall. Alerted by this, and unable to stop at his speed, Sonic tried to brace for impact as he went airborne.

What neither the doctor or Sonic had anticipated was the lack of a rock wall behind the waterfall. Sonic had splashed through the wall of water, and found himself inside a large sanctuary of some sort. The design was familiar, definitely similar to the architecture of the Hidden Palace, but much more extravagant. Along the sides of his path were too many artifacts to count, and ahead of him a white floor, and an exit on the other side. The exit seemed very far off. Where was he, anyway, underneath the Ice Cap? Sonic wasn't sure the mountain was large enough to hold such a shortcut, although he didn't question it with such the extensive underground system this island had.

But what threw Sonic off about this entire place, which hardly surprised him in the slightest, was someone standing in his way, just before the white path began. He couldn't quite make out just who it was at this distance, but he was afraid he was going to find out.

"Hey!" Sonic cried out, as the figure raised its hand. "Get out of the-"

The following smack was so unexpected. It had the force to send him right back out through the waterfall, and onto the other disconnected part of the island. Strangely, it had not hurt in the slightest. Sonic lost his grip of Amy during the knockback, but she had fallen not far from him. When Sonic regained his senses, he saw the ice caps, sliding down the other side of the mountain as lava began to rupture from the new mountaintop.

"Er..." Sonic said, confused for a moment. "... Maybe that's not where I want to go."

But he was confused just for a moment. He then noticed a saving grace nearby; the blimp. Tails had managed to get it caught in the draft and start riding it down. He was coming from the left, heading down. Sonic grinned, as a plan seemed to fall into place for him.

At the urgency of catching Robotnik, Sonic rolled backward onto his feet, and hoisted the princess getting onto her feet over his shoulder yet again. He was about to try to get into the tunnel once again, when he heard a ruckus coming from the crevice. Looking down there would reveal the hundreds of steam machines from before flying from tube to tube, presumably after him. And for a second, Sonic was thankful for the cosmic backhand he received moments ago.

When the last of the machines flew through, Sonic leaped, flung him and Amy in. He trailed the robots unnoticed as the rumblings of distant explosions blew off more parts of the island.

After a minute of tracing, the tube system ended, with only a short ways to go to the beach. Ivo was already flying down the beach, with the robots as escorts. They were being preoccupied by the incoming zeppelin, enough for Sonic to continue on at his speed.

"Humpty dumpty sat on a wall," Sonic said to no one in particular. Amy grew delightfully curious as to why he said that.

Before her answer came, Sonic went down into a roll. In this roll, he let go of Amy, letting her move at her own pace. Sonic went right back onto his feet, grabbing a nicely sized, sturdy rock, before running on.

Bursting from the shade and into the bright sunlight and the beautiful view of the ocean from a mile above at a thirty degree angle, Sonic reared the rock back, and shouted at the doctor.

"HEY, _EGGMAN!_"

Eggman took his mind off the seemingly impending threat of the zeppelin with Tails and Knuckles on board to the too familiar voice behind him. He looked with his black and red eyes at the blue hedgehog, and it refocused on the rock headed toward him. Fairly quick himself, he ducked before it made contact.

However, it was never meant to get into contact with him.

This became evident when Ivo heard the unmistakable sound of metal snapping.

"_I HATE YOU, SONIC THE HEDGEHOOOOOOOG!_" Eggman screamed, whilst having a great fall.

Applause came from those inside the airship as it began soaring in front of him. The robots were of little threat to the zeppelin, the air pressure of the balloon making the airship impressively sturdy. As a matter of fact, they could serve as a use, as the heroes all knew well; a means to get back onboard.

As Sonic stood still, marveling at his toss, Amy can running past him, leaping from the beach and onto the machines. Sonic smiled, admiring her for a moment. Perhaps he didn't need to carry her all that way; maybe she can learn to handle herself.

Following her lead, Sonic followed Amy's trail, jumping from the sands of Angel Island for the last time. He attacked all the robots he could, homing onto each one, taking explicit care to destroy every single one that did not flee. While in the air, he looked down, eye caught by the beauty the sea had from this perspective. The perfect weather did nothing but help it all be so picture perfect.

Soon, the final robot flew into his way. Feeling the most satisfied he has ever felt, Sonic stomped onto this robot, and did not leap on board. Instead, he stood on it for a moment, before calmly walking on board, into the arms of his best friends.

Complete, Sonic turned, to see the Angel Island fall apart into the sea.

* * *

Two hundred years later, a curious sight washes upon Southern Island's shore. A blue hedgehog, and a two tailed yellow fox. Above them, two locals talk.

"Oi, what are you doin'?"

"I jus' foun' these two blokes, I don' know what ta do wit 'em yet!"

"How about bringin' 'em inside, fer starters?"

"I dun wanna carry 'em!"

"Well, you ought to. These two look like dey've done some good stuff in deir time. Look like _heroes,_ don't dey?"

"... _maaaybeee..._"

"..."

"... I'monna poke 'em wit a _stick._"

"Marine-"

"_KYLOK, GO TAEK NOTES OFDA OCEAN, WHYDONTCHA!?_"

* * *

**BA NUM BA**

_**NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**_


End file.
